Today marks exactly 7 weeks since I left California and embarked on my new adventure in Madrid! I can´t believe how much time has passed but I am still enjoying Madrid more than I could have ever imagined.
School is still going really well. The kids at the school keep me smiling and laughing everyday. Everytime I enter a classroom I am flooded with love. The other day I had about eight first grade girls lined up to give me hugs before class. One little girl would not let go so I asked her¨"How are you?" and she replied "My name is Rocio." I repeated the question slower and she answered slower "My...name...is...Rocio." Looks like I have some work cut out for me! ha
One of my favorite classes is the third grade. They are all so sweet and obedient. Going to this class is so enjoyable! The kids were all sharing their experiences from Halloween and telling the teacher about the haunted house we put on at the school. The teacher asked little Andrea who was in the haunted house and she excitedly answered "Bitch was in the haunted house!!!" What she meant was Mitch, the other language assistant. But me being the mature person I am burst out laughing. Poor Andrea has no idea why and I obviously couldn´t explain.
This past weekend we went on a walking tour of the city. We figured that it would be good to know some history of the city before any visitors come! It was a great tour telling us about all the different monuments that we walk by everyday but never knew the history behind them. It is so crazy being in Europe and thinking about how much has happened here. There is a story to be told about almost everywhere in this city!
We also took part in more of the Madrid nightlife this past weekend. It is always lots of fun but is something that will take some adapting to. In America I would consider getting home at 3:00am a late night, but here that is when the night is just beginning! The Spaniards that we have been hanging out with think that we are crazy for going home at 6:00am! All of the Spaniards we have been meeting have all been so wonderful and nice. They continue to invite us into their homes and make an effort to ensure we feel welcomed. While we were at one of their homes this weekend a song came on and they all began singing along and stood up to do some type of dance. Well, Maggie and I instantly fell in love with the song so I thought I should share it with all of you overseas! Maybe it will become popular in America! Also, as a heads up it´s in Portugese. At first Maggie, Justin and I panicked because we had no idea what the singer was saying but soon were relieved when we found out it was not in Spanish.
On that note, we are speaking more and more Spanish. On Saturday morning Maggie and I went to a local bar across from our apartment to get a café. One of the waiters came up to us and asked us if we knew of anyone who could help him with English in return for Spanish. I answered that we could! He then proceeded to ramble something in very fast Spanish which resulted in Maggie and I looking like a deer in the headlights. Maggie swears that he had to be speaking Portugese haha. Luckily, we got things all figured out and we now have a new person to practice Spanish with!
Maggie, Justin and I also booked tickets to Belgium for the first week of December. We will be visiting Brussels and Bruge. We are very excited and look forward to visiting their big Christmas Market!
Hope that everyone at home is doing wonderfully! Miss you all tons!!!
My.. name.. is.. Rocio.. hahaha I love your updates!
ReplyDeleteI love your details Jaime. I love hearing about the different grade levels of your students and how they interact with you. And I am so happy to hear how the Spaniards are treating you with such warmth and inclusion. But how is your Spanish doing when you are with these Spanish adults socially? Are you stumbling along or are they trying to speak a bit slower and help you - or do you just have to fake it? I love your blog/diary!
ReplyDeleteUsually, the Spaniards are good about speaking clearly and slow to me. If not, I just ask them to speak slower. I can´t really fake it because they can tell from my face when I am confused ha! Hopefully, I will pick it up soon! One guy we have hung out with is really good at English and is good about correcting every little bit of my Spanish from pronunciation to grammar. But then there are others who don´t know much English which is also benefitial because I am forced to speak more Spanish! I am also going to start studying in my free time. Have to get fluent fast! :)
ReplyDeletethanks for answering my questions (sorry I just repeated some of these questions in the email I just sent you). I also wanted to tell you that I really liked that song you embedded! I would love to hear a song that is super popular right now in Spain but that is in Spanish just to get a sense of what they are into...
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